DA: Origins 10 Songs Meme
by Fire Fanatic
Summary: My first post back at this site in four years! The "10 Songs/Drabbles Meme" done using my human noble Warden PC, Cree. Hope you all enjoy this. Dragon Age: Origins, not DA: Awakening.


*Author's Note: So I figured I'd finally post something on here again (first time in _years_, wow) and the playlist meme was calling me too strongly to ignore it.

The character I chose was my human noble Warden PC, Cree, from Dragon Age: Origins. The drabbles aren't exactly chronological since the shuffle is random, but I wrote the locations as clearly as I could or as clearly as I wanted for a drabble, so if you have questions, just ask and I'll answer. Otherwise, I think they're pretty self-explanatory. The lyrics themselves were added after the drabble, separately from the activity itself. They're mainly the line(s) that inspired me for the drabble.

Doesn't include Dragon Age: Awakening. Great expansion, but all of these take place before it. Some _do_ occur in the epilogue of Origins though.

Again, this is my first time back on this site in a long time, so constructive criticism is always welcome, but please don't bash and/or flame.

Last note? My iPod Touch was being quite emo tonight, so a lot of the drabbles aren't exactly happy-go-lucky. Just a warning. ENJOY!!!*

Disclaimer: Bioware wins this one.

**SPOILERS INCLUDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

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* * *

Meme Rules:**  
1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.  
2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.  
3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards!  
4. Do ten of these, then post them.

* * *

_**Meet Me in the Morning**_** by Bob Dylan**

"_They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn"_

"Too much ale, Cree?"

The female Warden found the blonde-haired Templar hardly a few feet away, crouching down and grinning at her in amusement.

"Go away, Alistair."

The man's smile dipped only slightly and he instead dropped into a sitting position on the ground.

The sun was beginning to rise, she hadn't had a wink of sleep, her headache was mounting, and-

"I'll never drink with Oghren again."

* * *

_**My Paper Heart**_** by The All-American Rejects**

"_Please just don't play with me  
My paper heart will bleed  
This wait for destiny won't do  
Be with me, please, I beseech you"_

There was something to be said about court.

Like the fact she had to stare down the king, listen to him, nod, and speak herself- remain a Cousland, the calm, level-headed chancellor of the king's, _not_ his former lover.

While all the while Anora fluttered beside him, her face painted, her dress perfect, her smile content.

Summer had been long. And nothing had changed. She was still only his counselor, still only his friend… no longer his lover. And Anora was his _queen_.

* * *

_**All for Believing**_** by Missy Higgins**

"_I see you've painted your soul into your guard"_

It used to be a joke, trying to see through her façade. The idea that she didn't care about Flemeth, that she didn't care about her, that she hated _helping_ people.

But there were those moments- when Cree would catch the flicker of firelight and something more in her eyes.

There was _pain_ there. And that wasn't a joke.

* * *

**4. **_**Half-life**_** by Imogen Heap**

"_The stickler is you've played not one beat wrong  
You never promised me anything  
Even sat me down and warned me just how they fall  
I knew the odds were I'd never win"_

He'd warned her. Damn it, he'd _warned_ her. That honor and loyalty and duty to the crown and to the country came _first_.

But it had been so easy to ignore that. To fall into the soft kisses on her eyelids, the cold winter nights shrugged against each other, the careful, endearing words lifting her spirits when that seemed the least likely thing to happen.

And his hand now, brushing her hair back one last time, and that expression of pained, but decided _pride_…

There was more than an arch-demon and a broken city to keep her from sleep that night.

He'd _warned_ her this would happen.

* * *

**5. **_**More than This**_** by Matt Nathanson**

"_They've built the scenes around you  
And I need more than this_

_I'm tired  
Of baring my teeth when I smile"_

Her mother had worked so hard to marry her off. She'd tried to pin up her hair, don her in pretty dresses, introduce her to the "nice gentleman from Denerim"…

But she'd been more interested in the knights. Or rather the way the knights fought, the blazing pride in their eyes, their abilities to hit a target thirty yards away.

Not tea parties, babies, manners, and primping ladies-in-waiting.

She was a warrior stuck in a porcelain doll's disguise.

* * *

**6. **_**Such As It Ends**_** by Ludo**

"_Love such as it ends  
Into the flames we'll start again  
And in the end I'll be with you"_

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

She'd stood there, her face like stone. Her hands- those lovely hands- were grasped behind her back and he sighed, rubbing at his face.

"We could start over."

"The emperor will be here soon. I'll take my leave."

Cree turned and left briskly, leaving a silent king in a silent hall.

* * *

**7. **_**Landlady Song **_**by Antje Duvekot**

"_Cause your voice is a needle on a record that's broke_

_The only one, babe, that you ever play"_

Cree could never pin her down.

There was a hiding king, a stubborn "witch of the wilds", a silent Qunari, a slippery "reformed" assassin, a second-chance mage, a _rock_…

But what was Leliana?

The young warden took a small bite of cheese and glanced again towards the cheery Orlesian playing on her lute. She bore a smile that was experienced, but quiet, and her hands…

She wasn't some Chantry girl innocent. But she wasn't hardened… not like Morrigan was. Not like Dwyn had been.

She was just… Leliana.

…_a slippery "reformed" assassin, a second-chance mage, a rock…_ -and Leliana.

* * *

**8. **_**They Weren't There**_** by Missy Higgins**

"_And they weren't stripped 'till they were bare  
Of any bindings from the world outside that room_

_And they weren't taken by the hand and led through fields  
Of naked land where any pre-conceived ideas were blown away..."_

"_Spread your feet."_

_A young, brown-haired child stood in position, a blade in her hand, her eyes flickering stubbornly._

"_Stop that. You're giving yourself away."_

_Her father's voice was quiet, but firm, and he lifted her arm slightly with his hand, bumping her foot with his own to adjust her footing. A boy sat across the field, watching them both as he turned his own blade in his hands._

"_Cree."_

_She looked up at the teyhrn, her attention snapping quickly back to his words._

"_You'll have to defend yourself someday. You're a Cousland. You'll have to __**fight**__. Daydreaming comes later."_

"-Cree?"

The Warden looked up to find the entire camp staring at her. Right. Daydreaming. She never _had_ learned that lesson.

"Denerim. We'll head for Denerim."

* * *

**9. **_**Patience**_** by Seabird**

"_So be patient, patient  
when waiting for the gold"_

Wynne was constantly talking to her about patience, selflessness, honor, duty…

But Cree was tired of being righteous. She wanted to be selfish. She wanted to run. She wanted to leave behind the fighting and the pain and the "maybe"s and make the world she wanted.

But there was darkspawn to fight and arls to heal and love to postpone because some prince could be king. Even though that might…

No. Duty was more important than anything else now.

* * *

**10. **_**The Only One**_** by Evanescence**

_[Nothing to do with the lyrics. It was the tune that I wrote the drabble for.]_

Fire. A dark shape vaulted from the shadows and emerged before her, its fangs bared, its eyes flaming.

She scrambled backwards, a choked panic rising in her throat as she grasped for her missing sword.

Her body collided with another behind her and suddenly they surrounded her, their faces angry, their hands and skin streaked in red. Axes, swords, bloodied teeth, and claws. Their harsh laughing rattled in her ears and a great cheer broke from their throats that sounded more like metal grating on metal than actual voices.

A screech sent cold fear shooting down her spine and there it was again, the dark dragon, roaring and snapping its jaws around her middle.

Cree bolted up from her sleep, her hair streaked in sweat, her breath hitching painfully. Her fingers trembled around the hilt of a blade she'd drawn on instinct.

But there was nothing but a crackling fire and a snoring dwarf to greet her.

…she hated blights.


End file.
